The King in the Garden

We use The Story of the World for history, which I love. It relies heavily on 'living books', which means it is not in a textbook format but instead uses lots of biographies, poetry, picture books, folk tales, etc. to really give students a rounded and interdisciplinary look at the stories of history. Keely and Noah and I are finishing up ancient history this year, and there is a book we got from the library that really stuck with me, that I thought I would recommend. (As you can imagine, we get lots of library books for school. You have earned nerd status when you don't carry your library card with you, but instead rattle off your number from memory. What?! It's easier than digging out my wallet when I'm trying to keep a grip on a two-year-old, rock the carseat with my foot, and bag books.)

We studied ancient Babylon quite a while ago, and we checked out a book called The King in the Garden by Leon Garfield. This is a creative retelling of the story of Nebuchadnezzar from the book of Daniel. I loved this book because it tells, from a small girl's perspective, what might have happened to Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom while he was in the wild eating grass like a cow because of his pride. The story is so clever and a bit haunting, but I don't want to give too much away in case you want to read it with your kids. Unfortunately it is out of print, but you might be able to get it from your library. I have also seen some used copies on Amazon.

Have fun learning with your kids today! :)